Heated Sunless Tanning for Rapid Color and Other Topics: Literature Findings

By: Charles Fox, Independent Consultant

Posted: May 27, 2010, from the June 2010 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

This month’s survey of recent patent and research literature describes money-making ideas for personal care product development, including whitening and skin wrinkle-fighting women’s underwear, heated sunless tanners for rapid color development and collagen stimulation via beta-thujaplicin, among others.

Skin and Skin Care
Skin lightening preparation: Beiersdorf AG used 3-(4-hydroxy-3- methoxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propane-1-one to address hyper- pigmentation in cosmetic and dermatological preparations.1 An example of a skin lightening cream is shown in Formula 1.

Heated sunless tanner for rapid color: Unilever PLC disclosed a sunless tanning product that imparts faster color to skin when dispensed through a heating device.² At RT, a body lotion containing 1.50% dihydroxyacetone as the tanning agent was prepared and applied to a panelist. The preheated sample delivered a bronze glow within five minutes while an identical, non-heated sample required more than double the time to achieve similar coloration.

Improved moisturization with heated niacinamide: Unilever PLC has also found that heated niacinamide improves skin moisturization.³ A body lotion containing 1.50% niacinamide together with glycerin, stearic acid, magnesium aluminum silicate, silicone, glyceryl monostearate/stearamide AMP, isopropyl myristate, petrolatum, triethanolamine, glycerol monostearate, cetyl alcohol, fragrance, DMDM hydantoina, titanium dioxide, disodium EDTA and water was prepared and applied to a panelist. The preheated composition imparted more rapid moisturization than expected when compared with the non-heated sample at RT, which resulted in drier, less moisturized skin.

Protecting skin from osmotic shock: Sederma published a patent on homarine and erythritol in a moisturizing cosmetic or dermopharmaceutic composition.⁴ The company also disclosed a method to non-therapeutically treat the skin to improve cutaneous hydration, prevent and/or treat cutaneous dryness signs, restore and/or protect the cutaneous barrier function and protect cells of the skin and/or the scalp from osmotic shock such as that which is UV-induced. After inducing hyperosmotic shock in cultured human keratinocytes, researchers showed the combination of homarine and erythritol to produce osmo-protective effects. Various products containing this combination were provided.